So rain making or rather “artificial rain,” what exactly is it and how does it work? Well in simple terms, artificial rain is simply a downpour of rain that does not come naturally. It is man-made rain.
It is not completely you making rain artificially though, it is more like you artificially altering precipitation in the clouds using external agents.
The entire process of making this so-called artificial rain has been termed “Cloud Seeding.” It involves introducing foreign particles like salt powder, silver iodide, or dry ice into the cloud.
It is usually carried out using airplanes, drones, or even rockets.
Is Artificial Rain Necessary?
We all know how the process of natural rain works. It all starts with water evaporating from seas, rivers, or other earthly water Bodies.
At this point as the water travels upwards when the wind temperature rises, some droplets merge. This process of merging continues as it goes upstream until it becomes too heavy to float then returns as the almighty rain we know.
Steps to make artificial rain
1. Agitation.
The first stage which is agitation involves using chemicals to enhance the air mass which invariably rises and forms clouds. What these chemicals do is absorb the water vapor and hasten the condensation process.
Chemicals that can be used include Silver iodide and potassium iodide.
2. Build-up stage.
In this second stage, the cloud mass is increased by applying dry ice, kitchen salt, and urea. This process then increases the density of the cloud.
3. Seeding.
In this final stage of creating your rain, extremely cold chemicals such as iodide or dry ice are jammed together with the highly pressurized canister on the base of the clouds. This process’s job is to build up the droplets of water and make them fall as rain.
It is not magic but straightforward science. let me break it down for you with a simple example, think of a bucket of water filled with impurities above. Now when you add alum to the water, you’ll notice the impurities settle to the bottom.
I know you might be wondering, what exactly happened here? Well after the alum was added, it served as a catalyst and hasten the process. The water particles began colliding with each other and increasing in Mass until it too heavy to float then falls as rain.
Now that is exactly what goes on up in the clouds. The charged particles are usually light and too small to fall as rain. That is why an external agent is usually introduced to collide with these particles Making them heavy and thereby falling like rain.
Applaud yourself!! now you truly understand the science behind artificial rain.